Victory Over Sin and Christian Duty (Rom. 6:11-14)

Pastor Ostella

9-26-99

As we turn again to the book of Romans, I want to speak to you today on the topic of victory over sin in the life of a Christian. It should be stressed up front that the ultimate and final triumph of the saint (a saint is a Christian, a Christian is a sint) is assured and that is why we ought to pursue our obligations before God. Note that it is not the reverse. It is not the case that we have the victory because we obey. Instead, we obey because we have the victory. However, our obedience or disobedience to the commands of our King, the Lord Jesus, does lead to good or bad practical consequences for us on our journey. So, today I want to address the matter of core duties of the Christian who has been given ultimate and final victory over sin.

In a word, your duty, Paul says, is to rest in the power of God, to forbid sin's reign over you, and to present yourself to God for service. These three things are found in Romans 6:11-14.

1A. Consider your union with Christ (Rom. 6:11)

Consider yourself dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. This concept presupposes two things: life in bondage to sin and death toward God. We were spiritually enslaved and spiritually dead. But we have been made alive and set free. So now we are free from sin's mastery and alive to God. There has been a change in our lives, a radical change. Consideration of this change will highlight the first duty we have as Christians in doing battle with sin.

One of the central ways to do battle with sin in your own life is to ponder, reflect upon, study, and absorb the things that God has done in Christ for you back at the cross. Note the end of the sentence: Consider yourself dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Consider that you have this death and new life by virtue of your union with Christ in His death. Note that His death brought about the death of death. On the cross, He secured your resurrection from spiritual death and your resurrection from physical death. It was accomplished. All that was obtained by our Great High Priest will be realized eventually at His appointed time. On the cross He secured your release from slavery to sin. Now knowing Him and living before Him in the obedience of faith you have the victory that overcomes the world. This is why "faith is the victory." In this war there are ups and downs. You have set backs when you fight unprepared. But unquestionably and irresistibly, though you lose battles along the way, you will win the war. Why? Because greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world. You will win because Christ has secured the victory for you in His own life, death and resurrection.

This is something you are to know because Paul says "know, reckon, count it so" (Rom 6.11). This is doctrinal recognition. How important right doctrine is! And this text emphasizes right doctrine about the death of Christ as our substitute. There is much about the work of Christ for us to know. We are to mark it down, and declare it so. Making this declaration is an act of faith; it is how we rest in what God has done in Christ and what He says is the case in our death with Christ.

Knowing what Christ has done is the first duty of a spiritual warrior. Learning all about these things, feeding on this portion of the bread of life, is absolutely essential preparation of your feet with the gospel, so you can stand firm in it. This type of preparation is foundational, like protecting the feet in battle. If your feet are knocked out from under you, then you lie there to be trampled on with many afflictions. Lay hold of this good news. Reckon it so. One way to apply this call to preparation is to read Romans 6-8. Note that there are very few exhortations to duty, which shows us that our first duty is to know these things. You are to know what Christ has done fully, grasp it clearly, discuss it earnestly, and apply it diligently. Again, application begins with knowledge of the work of Christ and marking down what He has done for you by the blessings of God in the power of His grace.

So here are some things to ponder and know as you consider your union with Christ and the freedom from sin and death that He has secured. 1) First, look back to His death and life, and count it the same for you ("the same way" of v. 11 directs us back to v. 10). 2) Second, rest in the power of God: your new life is due to the action of God in all the glory of His attributes. Sin shall not have dominion over you because you are under the power of the grace of the Almighty, the power that raised Jesus from the dead! (Rom. 6:14; in v. 4 we are told that our new life is brought about by the glory of God that operated in raising Jesus from the dead, a profound and remarkable fact; cf. the validity of comparing our spiritual resurrection with the resurrection of Lazarus). 3) Third, consider the substitutionary death of Christ. We are to know we were crucified with Him on the cross so that we would be freed from sin by His power (6:6-7). Look at Christ and your death with Him (6:8). Notice that Paul is not saying that the death of Christ was something general and nonspecific. It is not that Christ simply made some good medicine for sin in general, and for people in general. Paul's entire gospel rests on the fact that when Jesus died He actually took the place of the sinners for whom He died. He actually endured their eternal punishment. He actually satisfied the wrath of God against them. Therefore, on the cross, He secured their release from sin, from its condemnation, and from its bondage (Isa. 53:11, by bearing their iniquities the righteous servant will justify many; 1 Pet. 2:24, He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; Heb. 9:12-14, entering the most holy place with His own blood, Jesus "obtained eternal redemption," that is, at the cross He obtained our eternal release from sin. The fruit of His work is our new life in righteousness).

Thus, Paul tells us that we know specific things about Christ and His death and His new life (6:9-10). So now consider that it is the same for you (6:11). Rest in the word of God: He says it, it is so. I am freed from sin's mastery. I am free from my sinful self! I am dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Seeing your inherent wretchedness, thank God for deliverance (7:24-25). Mark it down, you are not condemned and you are set free by the Spirit (8:1-2). Say to yourself, "He will see me through to glory. Nothing depends on me. The victory is sure because it does not depend on me one bit, but totally on the Lord."

You may ask, "How am I motivated, given this teaching?" The motivation is not "work so you will secure the victory for yourself." It is quite the reverse (it is not that we make it so by believing it; instead, it is because it is so that we are to believe it). Your work does not secure the victory. If you know that the victory is sure because God settled it by the power of His grace, then you are encouraged to work. In the midst of the struggles and difficulties, it is most encouraging to know that you will win the battle by the grace and power of God. Consider the football team going into the game with the thought, "we are losers!" Heads down, hearts deflated, they will be trampled.

In contrast, Christian, the victory is yours. Count it so. This is how you fix your eyes on Christ, the author and finisher of your faith (Heb. 12:2, v. 3 tells us that this is the way to avoid weariness and loss of heart). We have a beautiful picture of how to fix our hearts on Christ and what He accomplished for us in the experience of Peter in the water with Christ. When Peter looks at the troubled sea, he sinks in despair. But when he fixes his eyes on Jesus he does not sink and is not overwhelmed. Likewise, Paul says, consider these truths and mark out these doctrines. Consider yourself dead to sin and alive to God (freed from slavery and from death) because of your union with Christ in His death on the cross and His resurrection by the glory of God, the Father.

2A. Forbid sin's reign in your life. (Rom. 6:12)

Do not let sin push your around. Granted, it is there underlying all your service to God (7:15-16; 18-19; 25b). Although it strikes blows like a boxer, don't give in but fight on. Don't turn your back or sin will beset you and drag you down. Be the runner that throws off all the hindering weights in order to run all, to run swiftly and efficiently, to run with vigor, and thus to serve with delight in the law of God (Rom. 7:22, to fulfill this delight valiantly and vigorously).

Never consider your work of contending at an end. Don't be careless after times of great victory and blessing. Valleys often follow mountain tops. Forbid the quenching of holy affections. When you are bubbling with joy in the Spirit, be ready to resist the dampening of your spirit by others. You are prone to become angry at their flatness of spirit. Be on guard to meet those who would hinder you with great patience, kindness and love (cf. 2 Tim. 2:24-25).

Fight with the sin that crops up in your hearts. Counter unholy thoughts with God's word. Do not make provision for the flesh to fulfill its lusts (Rom. 13:14). Don't be slothful. Do not grow weary. Pray and faint not. Look unto Jesus, the author and finisher of your faith. Wait for Him to renew your strength (Isa. 40:31, "Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not be faint). With your eyes fixed on Him, you will not grow weary or faint in your hearts.

3A. Present yourself to God (Rom. 6:13; another positive, the negative is sandwiched between two positives)

"Lord I belong to you. I am yours. I am not my own. I give myself away to you." Pray that prayer, pray it often and in earnest. Acknowledging that you are alive from death and have been freed from an awful bondage, submit yourself to God as your king; do this gladly and adoringly.  Confess your sinfulness, your shame and with self-abhorrence and self-renunciation, present yourself to the law of God as your delight (7:22). Present yourself to holy deeds, to righteous conduct, to all of God's commandments (all are summarized in the Ten, the Ten are summarized in the two great commands, and the two great commands are summarized in one word: love). Offer the very parts of your body to Him as instruments of righteousness (6:13; contrast this with our contemporary sexual revolution; present your sexual hungers and all your appetites to God for holy service; intimacy of husband and wife is a matter of holy service; use of the mind is a matter of holy service, etc.). Give your intellect, will, your drives and hungers, your mind, hands, legs and feet to the Lord Jesus Christ for service. We need His guide lines for the right use of our bodies and all that we do with them. 

Conclusion (What can we say to these things?)

We must say, "the victory over sin in the saint is ours now." It is found in the introduction into our lives of the saving and leavening principle of grace. It will leaven the whole lump. The victory is found in the newness of the Holy Spirit based on, and rooted in, the accomplished work of Christ Jesus our Lord. The Holy Spirit's application of the finished work of Christ is constant, gradual, and certain in its accomplishment over time by the power of grace.

Victory is a fact because it is the work of God. And this leads us to the use of means that God has appointed for us to live out this victory. We have a duty to work out the victory that He is working within. Ultimate success is not a cooperative venture in which God does His part and we do our part. There is success through doing our part because God works in us without failure, leading us across the battlefield of sin to victory on the other side (Phil. 2:12-13).

So, brothers and sisters, wonderfully and marvelously count it so. Recognizing the true conflict and serious consequences for your life day by day, do not let sin reign over you. Don't let sin trample on you; it need not be the case. Sin is neither your conqueror nor your master. Then, stand and run and work in service to God as those brought from a horrible death to a glorious life. Offer yourself, and every part of your body to God as an instrument of righteousness.

Benediction

Let us fall down before the majesty of God with deep recognition of our true sinfulness and need of His grace. And let us give thanks from grateful hearts. May our eyes be "melted to tears" of joy when "His dear cross appears," for there my Savior, my Sovereign "groaned upon the tree." May we know deep in our souls that His death on the cross was for crimes that we have done. And teach us, O Lord, that this was for a new life that we may live by the power of your grace. Amen.